Ebadi: US War in Iraq set back Iran Human rights
Barbara Slavin of USA Today profiles Shirin Ebadi, the Nobel prize winner for peace from Iran. Ebadi complains that the US war in Iraq has strengthened Islamic extremism in the region. Slavin reports her saying,
‘ the toppling of Saddam Hussein has strengthened Islamic fundamentalists in both Iraq and Iran and given her country’s theocratic regime a new justification “to keep people silent.” “Under slogans such as protecting national security or fighting terrorism, there’s always a reason to act against and silence human rights advocates,” she says. “So the U.S. military attack on Iraq … hurt the democracy process in Iran and in the region.”
I would argue, given the memos of the counsels to the president, and the policies of John Ashcroft, and the Patriot Act, that a similar statement could be made about the effect of the war on human rights inside the United States. The Bush administration seems determined finally to simply repeal the Bill of Rights, as inconvenient for the administration.